The Akshardham temple in Indian capital New Delhi
Details
Length: 356 ft.
Width: 316 ft.
Height: 141 ft.
Area of 86,342 sq. ft.
The grand, ancient-style, ornately hand-carved stone temple has been built without structural steel within five years by 11,000 artisans and volunteers. His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, revered spiritual leader of BAPS, consecrated the temple on 6 November 2005.
This complex is surrounded by a sacred water lake, Narayan Sarovar which contains holy waters from 151 rivers and lakes sanctified by Bhagwan Swaminarayan, including Mansarovar. Temple has 234 ornately carved pillars, nine domes and 20 quadrangular shikhars. It is home to the idols of all the 24 avatars (incarnations) of Hindu god Vishnu, not the usual 10 as is believed. The temple, according to officials, has 208 sculptures of the almost all Indian deities like the Radha-Krishna, Sita-Ram, Parvati-Mahadev, Laxmi-Narayana, Revati-Balram, Savitri-Brahma, Nar Narayan and Aksar-Purushottam.